Is it cheaper to rent or to buy?

If you’ve been thinking about buying, you might be tossing up whether it’s cheaper to rent or to buy – let’s take a closer look.

There isn’t a straightforward answer to the question of what’s cheaper. This is especially because the property market is continuously changing, and it also depends on the regions and the type of property you’re interested in.

What is the UK's average property price?

Using the HM Land Registry latest UK house price data, average house prices in England in July 2023 were £289,824 (a yearly increase of 0.6%), in Wales £215,632 (a yearly house price change of -0.16%), and in Scotland £191,870 (with a year-on-year of 0.1%).* 

What’s happening in the rental market?

Average rents in the UK have increased by 1.2% over the last month and by 10.1% year-on-year, meaning that renters are currently paying an average of £1,276 per calendar month (pcm), with Greater London’s average being £2,179 pcm – an increase of 1.6% since last month.^ Scotland’s annual growth was above average with 13.3%, but experienced a -0.8% decrease month-on-month (the first since January 2023) reaching £977 pcm. Rent in Wales increased by 1.2% compared to last month, and 7.3% year-on-year, reaching £852 pcm.^

Is it cheaper to buy or to rent?

After taking all of the above into account, as well as looking at the current market, one can’t forget about what’s happening with interest rates, as this will influence the mortgage market. If you want to know more about what’s currently happening in the world of mortgages, read about how the interest rates could affect you here.

Zoopla published a great graph that depicts where in the UK it’s cheaper to buy and where it’s cheaper to rent, based on a 5.6% mortgage rate and the region in which you live (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Buying with a 5.6% mortgage rate versus renting according to Zoopla

Picking out a few regions, you can see that in London the difference is the largest, where buying is, on average, £403 more expensive than renting. However, in Wales, there is only a £15 difference, where buying is slightly cheaper than renting. In Scotland, buying is, on average, £128 cheaper than the average rent, placing Scotland nicely in between London and Wales. Other regions in which it’s currently cheaper to buy than to rent are:

Table 1: Where buying is cheaper than renting (Source: Zoopla Research)

Table 2: Where renting is cheaper than buying (Source: Zoopla Research)

Should I rent or should I buy?

Deciding whether to rent or buy may not be an easy choice. For this reason, we’ve put together a list of factors that you may want to consider in this comprehensive article: Renting vs owning: which is better?

Knowing what’s cheaper can be super helpful when deciding. However, cost may only be one barrier of a few that you need to contend with. An alternative to renting that can help you get onto the property ladder, is Shared Ownership. Shared Ownership can be the more affordable way to own your home. Find out more about it here.

All in all, whether you’re currently a homeowner or renting, there will be many factors that will impact your choice as to what your next step will be.